1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-guide plate, a backlight assembly having the light-guide plate and a display device having the backlight assembly. More particularly, the present invention relates to a light-guide plate capable of improving image display quality, a backlight assembly having the light-guide plate and a display device having the backlight assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Development of information-processing devices has included various architectures, functions and faster information processing speed. The information-processing devices process information in an electrical signal format. In order to output the results processed by information-processing devices, a display device interfaces between the information-processing devices and users.
A liquid crystal display (LCD) of the display devices is lighter and smaller, displays high-resolution images and consumes less power compared to the cathode ray tube (CRT) that has been used for a long time as display device.
In general, LCD device includes a LCD panel that displays images using optical transmittance of a liquid crystal and a backlight assembly that is disposed under the LCD panel and supplies light to the LCD panel. The backlight assembly may be classified into either a direct illumination type or an edge illumination type, based on a location of a light source.
In the direct illumination type, the backlight assembly includes a plurality of light sources arranged in a parallel with each other under the LCD panel and directly supplies light generated from the light source to the LCD panel.
In the edge illumination type, the backlight assembly includes a light source, a light-guide plate that is disposed adjacent to the light source and guides the light generated from the light source into the LCD panel and a reflecting plate that is disposed under the light-guide plate to reflect leaked light advancing toward the lower portion of the light-guide plate.
In the edge illumination type, the backlight assembly may further include a prism sheet disposed on the light-guide plate to improve luminance of the light exiting from the light-guide plate. The prism sheet may include a plurality of prisms that refracts the light to enhance a front-view luminance. In order to remove the need for a prism sheet, a developed backlight assembly includes a light-guide plate having the prisms.
When the prisms are compactly disposed, the light-guide plate having the prisms emits more light through a central portion than in an edge portion. Therefore, luminance-uniformity is lowered and image display quality is deteriorated.